The Homa Bay County government has begun promoting health workers who had stagnated in various job groups.
This follows a meeting held on Friday attended by the County Secretary, Prof. Bernard Muok, County Public Service Board Chair Isaiah Okoto, the Health Chief Officer, Kevin Osuri, and all the health workers’ union officials. Prof. Muok said a total of 336 health workers were promoted.
The move was expected to curb perennial strikes by the health workers, whose top grievance was failure to be promoted in various cadres of their job groups.
Prof. Muok admitted that promotions had been a thorny issue in which some health workers had stayed in the same job group for 19 years.
“We have decided to promote the 336 health workers across all carders in this county. The promotion has been a serious problem in which some health workers have stagnated for 19 years,” Muok said.
He said they had received applications from 900 health workers for promotions, but financial constraints forced them to promote only 336.
“Limitation of resources was our serious challenge, but the other health workers will be promoted in the next financial year,” Muok added.
He said the promotions would take immediate effect and would reflect on the health workers pay slips this month.
Okoto said the workers were promoted on merit based on how they had stagnated in their job group.
“What we were considering most in the promotion was the duration these health workers had stagnated in their job groups,” Okoto said.
Health workers’ union leaders expressed optimism that the initiative would enable Homa Bay residents to get services uninterrupted.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Laison Officer in the County Ochieng Otana said the promotions were a morale booster.
“The greatest beneficiaries of this initiative are the citizens of this county because they will get quality services without interruptions,” Dr. Otana said.
The Secretary of the Kenya Union of Nurses in the county, Omondi Nyonje, told the government to fast-track the promotion of all the health workers who applied for the promotion.
“This promotion has given us morale to discharge our duties,” Nyonje said.
By Davis Dorene Aluoch and Davis Langat
